Corruption of Innocence
by HoshisamaValmor
Summary: A child as Core was brilliant. Stefano kidnapping Lily. (mentions of violence and harm to children)


"Let me go! Let me go! I don't want to go with you, I want my mommy! Let me go!"

Clearly, she would go on about for a while. Stefano hissed sharply, his head throbbing already from the tantrum. He had told her they were going to meet mommy, but the words had no effect other than a variation of yells now calling him a liar. She also thrashed about, trying to escape.

The whole thing was starting to quickly grow on his nerves.

"Let me go!"

"You almost make me want to cut your tongue out," Stefano complained through gritted teeth, barely hearing his own voice over the girl's screams. "Perhaps something like that could make both our tasks easier? What do you think, hm?"

Lily tried to kick him, tenacious in her attempt but laughable in the result. In her ridiculous pink pyjamas she looked just like a stupid little girl that should be pestering some ignorant parents in that world outside, not wondering about this wonderful world and pestering him. Theodore better twist her neck around and be done with it, or kick her out, or do whatever he wanted. Or he could always leave the girl to him. Stefano could cut her throat himself.

But then again, why bother with this one kid if she wasn't important?

By then they had exited the warehouse where she had tried to hide from him. The corruption overflowing this beautiful world was already affecting this place as well, changing the landscape into a decadent, abandoned locale.

That was when her pitching scream made the tonne cargo containers fly into the air, suspended for a heartbeat before they raged down.

The impact was thunderous. The ground shook under them just like it used to when he was in a battlefield, bombs falling from the skies to obliterate everything and everyone under them. The metal screeched and clashed deafeningly, leaving a painful hiss on his eardrums. Even though the closest container was some feet safetely away from them, the unexpected event threw them to the ground and Lily twisted and squirmed her way out of his grasp. Stefano groaned in annoyance as she stumbled to her feet, turning on his stomach and throwing his arm but barely scratching the child's leg.

She ran in desperation, but she couldn't outrun him. He quickly caught up with her, locking both fists on the back of her pyjamas and pulling her back against him. Lily shrieked again, but this time he covered her mouth tightly and shoved her around next, facing her and locking his gaze into her big, pretty bright blue eyes. The gleam of tears enhanced their shine, streaked elegantly by a touch of horror, which told him his hair must have uncovered the right side of his face and the sweet little girl was looking into the shrapnel. That hushed her voice even more effectively.

Despite all of it, Stefano was smiling.

She _had_ to be important. But that liar Theodore would never say exactly why.

Liar. Manipulator. He wanted to hide her, to keep her for himself.

"Let's try this again, shall we? Lily?" The girl tried to breathe, nothing but short puffs of air making their way to her lungs. "You are hiding a big secret, aren't you?"

The girl froze, stopping to breathe altogether.

"Are you scared of being here? Why don't we go talk in a more comfortable place? Like... the theater? Have you ever been to a theater, Lily?"

She blinked in confusion, not understanding his sudden change in tone. Stefano smirked and squeezed his fingers around her tender arms to help her understand a bit better.

"Can you take us there?" It was a sudden thought that had occured to him, yes, but...

A small frown appeared on her baby skin, and she blinked.

Their surroundings changed. The cold abandoned nightscape from before turned into the graceful interior of the theater hall.

Stefano didn't release her this time out of surprise, but he did blink in bewilderment.

That was shaping the very fabric of this world. That...

Whenever he thought this world couldn't be more perfect, he was surprised yet again. This world was perfect. This girl was perfect.

She was so dumb, so innocent. If she could attempt to do something like that, she could have evaded him much more efficently, but he guessed such a child wouldn't think of such things all by herself.

She could be persuaded, though.

She was the Core. Not even Theodore could do something like that so effortlessly, and he had granted Stefano more liberty within this world.

Why would anyone pick a brat to serve as a Core for a place like this? Then again, he quickly answered his own question: maleable, adaptable, open to stimuli and influence, not too much sense of self yet; a white canvas. Not only it made sense, it was rather ingenious.

Didn't stop it from being nerve wrecking.

Didn't stop it from being brilliant.

"I have a secret too. Do you want me to tell you?"

The child cowered, too confused by the situation to know what to do, what to think.

Innocence could be so inspiring. Even more so when you could twist it and enlightened it with fear.

"I can have power like you do. I won't need to harm you like this, you see?" he eased the hold on her arms emphatically. "That will make it a lot easier for the both of us."

"Will... will you let me go then?"

"Let you go, my dear? No, I'm afraid not."

"But I don't want to be with you! I want my mommy!"

"Your mommy will be delivered to you piece by piece if you don't stop annoying me. Starting with her big blue eyes."

None of this would ever work were the Core someone else, or at the very least wouldn't work so fast. But she was a child, terrified someone could hurt her or her mommy when she obviously had enough power to defend herself.

"If you help me, however, neither you nor your mommy will be harmed. You see? I did say I could find a way to make both our tasks easier."

Lily whimpered, again trying to squirm away from him, but much less firmly this time.

That was when this world finally, truly reached its full potential.

A canvas at his disposal.

.

the end

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* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading, comments and corrections to English are welcomed.  
I wrote another Stefano piece called 'Aesthetical Rebirth', which I invite you to read if you have time.

Disclaimer at the end but I obviously don't work The Evil Within or characters.


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